NCCC Foundation sets $2.5 million goal

Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, March 23, 2006

The Niagara County Community College Foundation Inc. has announced a goal of $2.5 million for its major gifts campaign, “Touching Lives, Building Futures.” Public solicitations are now under way and will culminate with a victory celebration on June 28.

Solicitations in the “quiet phase” of the campaign, including employees of the college, NCCC trustees and its foundation, local foundations and targeted community members, have already yielded more than $2 million in pledges and donations. The largest gift received was a $1 million pledge payable over five years from the Grigg-Lewis Foundation.

New York state Sen. George Maziarz and his wife, Beverly, are the honorary chairpersons of the campaign.

“We are enthused by the tremendous response from the community toward the ‘Touching Lives, Building Futures’ campaign,” George Maziarz said. “It shows that people realize how Niagara County Community College contributes to the quality of life in our region and feel it is worthy of philanthropic support. NCCC has so much to offer the community through quality educational programs, workforce training, and small business development. It deserves our assistance in meeting the needs of a diverse population.”

NCCC President Dr. James Klyczek said the “Touching Lives, Building Futures” campaign is centered on three initiatives. The first aims to increase the foundation’s scholarship endowment to provide more Niagara County students with access to an NCCC education. The second is for a technology endowment to generate funding to support the infrastructure for technology-based educational programs. The third is to provide additional funding to maintain up-to-date classrooms, laboratory and simulated clinical evaluation and treatment rooms for allied health programs.